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Results tagged ‘ outside of my jurisdiction ’

My list of “potential blog topics” has become exceedingly unruly, thanks to my tendency to fill every square inch of notebook paper before flipping over to a fresh sheet. The page is so crowded that I can barely read my own writing anymore.

Therefore, time is of the essence. I must share as many of these “potential blog topics” as I can, before they are lost forever due to poor notebook maintenance.

Traficant Do It — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers put their name into action when they were forced to scrap September 2’s “Traficant Release Night.” For those who don’t keep up on Ohio’s sordid political scandals, James Traficant is a former congressman currently in jail as a result of a whole slew of felonious offenses related to corruption and general sleaziness. The Scrappers’ promotion was meant to acknowledge (and perhaps satirize) Traficant’s upcoming release from prison, but not everyone in the community was on board with the idea. After receiving a virtual mountain of complaints the team wisely put a kibosh on the whole thing. In its place? “Valley Pride Night” — a celebration of area businesses, attractions, and individuals that is sure to be far less divisive than a corrupt politician with a staggeringly bad toupee.

The theme song for this promotion should be a parody of Mary Poppins’ “Chim Chim Cher-ee“: Sim Sim Series, Sim Sim Series, Sim Sim Series/A Sweep is as lucky, as lucky as can be.” I didn’t even have to change that second line at all!

Outside of My Jurisdiction — I cover the world of affiliated Minor League Baseball. You know this. But I still receive emails from individuals and organizations within other subsections of the sports marketing landscape, many of whom are staging promotions that could most certainly be described as “Minor League Baseball-esque”. Like this — “Jon and Kate Plus Eight Family Night” at Washington state’s Skagit Speedway:

Skagit Speedway will ensure the ultimate fun for “Jon & Kate Plus 8 Night” families by banning all paparazzi and tabloid reporters from the facility for the evening. Families are encouraged to video their own reality show at the event and upload the experience to YouTube.

I also recently recieved a promotional email from a big league club, something that does not happen very often. So, hey, check it out — everyone who buys a “special event ticket” for the San Francisco Giants’ upcoming “Latino Heritage Night” receives a limited-edition Carlos Santana bobblehead:

This One Blows — I included the Northwest Arkansas Naturals’ “Kazoo World Record Attempt” in the August 11 edition of “Promotion Preview”. The club has since sent out a press release announcing that 3000 fans participated in a group rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, thereby establishing a new world record. While I congratulate the Naturals on their efforts, I wonder if they will be able to have their achievement validated by the Guinness Book of World Records. As I learned while researching this article, breaking a world record is much easier said than done.

Last week, the six Minor League clubs operated by Mike
Veeck’s Goldklang Group staged “Bobblection 2008.” The premise behind
this promotion was simple, according to my Promotion Preview column from two
weeks ago:

“Bobblection is very simple at its core,” I wrote informatively.
“Upon entering the stadium, fans will select a bobblehead doll of either
Barack Obama or John McCain. The first candidate to run out of dolls (there
will be 500 of each) is declared the winner.”

The people have spoken, and the leader they prefer is bobblin’ Barack Obama.
Here are the results:

GOLDKLANG GROUP BOBBLECTION RESULTS

TEAM

OBAMA
McCAIN

Hudson Valley, NY750(51.3%)713(48.7)

Brockton, MA500(52.3%)456(47.7%)

Charleston, SC500(58.1%)360(41.9%)

St. Paul, MN1250(58%)906(42%)

Sioux Falls, SD500(55.2%)405(44.8%)

Fort Myers, FL500(54.4%)419(45.6%)

TOTALS4,000 ( 55.1%)3,259 ( 44.9%)

Astute observers will note that three of the teams listed
above (Sioux Falls, St. Paul, Brockton) are from the Independent Leagues, that wild and wooly bastion of the Minors that is officially outside of the Ben’s Biz Blog jurisdiction. For one shining moment, Bobblection was able to unite these normally isolated factions of professional baseball. As a candidate of HOPE and CHANGE and UNITY and other buzzwords that signal a NEW ERA, Barack Obama would certainly approve.

In other news: I will be out of the office over the next several days, for two exceedingly goodreasons. Blog content will most likely be sparse, but do not think I have abandoned you. I would never do that.

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